Army Ranger Michael Stinfer will be walk and run 41 miles from Fort Wayne to Warsaw to bring awareness to a two year old's kidney condition.

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) – Myles Bartley, 2, was diagnosed with end-stage kidney disease, a condition that affects the day to day functions of the kidney. A Warsaw army ranger read about his story in the newspaper and wanted to help the young boy and his family.

Sarah Rife, Myles’ mother, said her son was born with this condition. He was near death at birth. She said right after he was born, he stopped eating and she took him back to the hospital. After a few tests, doctors told Rife that her son had low potassium. It was so low; doctors were surprised that he was still alive. He was then put on dialysis.

“Now, it’s our life. I don’t know any difference now, we’ve been doing it so long,” said Rife.

So far, Myles has had six surgeries. He’s now old enough to get a kidney transplant, which will be done at Riley Hospital in Indianapolis. Rife said the family is hopeful about the transplant and Myles getting at least 10 to 20 years out of the kidney, but realizes this will be an ongoing situation for him throughout his life.

Michael Stinfer, an army ranger, read about Myles’ story in the local paper and realized he wanted to help.

“I’ve decided right then and there that was going to be my positive thing I wanted to do to try and replace some of the negativity of the things I’ve seen in combat,” Stinfer said.

He has started the Miles for Myles run. He and his fellow comrades will walk and run just over 41 miles from Fort Wayne to Warsaw to bring awareness and raise money for Myles’ family. Stinfer and his military friends will be wearing their gear, that’s between 40 to 50 pounds.

“It’s pretty significant for our family,” Rife said.

The run will start next Friday at 2 a.m.

Stinfer is raising $50,000 to help the family with medical expenses. If you want to donate, you can go to any Lake City Bank and donate under Myles Bartley.